


A Scandal and a Lie

by crylorenaissance



Series: Empress of the Known Galaxy AU [5]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Allusions to Murder, Angst, F/M, M/M, Polyamory, Smut, Space tabloids, allusions to torture, empress au, plot with a little porn as a treat, political scandals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:22:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29211867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crylorenaissance/pseuds/crylorenaissance
Summary: Shortly after Emperor Ren is crowned as ruler of the known galaxy, someone leaks racy pictures of Empress Cetrye and General Hux. Chaos breaks loose as article after article gets released to criticize the empress. And all this started over the Empress accidentally cursing one time.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren/Original Female Character(s), Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren, Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren/Original Female Character(s), Armitage Hux/Original Female Character(s), Ben Solo | Kylo Ren/Original Female Character(s), Kylo Ren/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Empress of the Known Galaxy AU [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2106720
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	A Scandal and a Lie

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t remember the Star Wars canon term for photographs so let’s just run with what’s here

When the tabloids sank their claws into the Empress, they dug deep. Lita was horrified by the headlines. About how she was “improper” and “unfit to lead.”

It had been one curse. So quiet that  _ she _ had barely even heard it. The word had just slipped out in a moment of frustration. She had been nervous to give a speech and stumbled over a word multiple times while speaking.

She felt so  _ stupid. _ And angry at herself for humiliating Kylo like this. She knew it would reflect poorly on him. Lita knew he would be angry, too. Not at her, though, never at her. He would be angry at the reporters focusing so heavily on something so frivolous and having such extreme reactions to it.

High Command and the advisors would have a heyday with these accusations, especially Pryde.

Lita groaned in frustration. Then her datapad chimed again. She glanced at the headline. Then the subtitle. Lita felt her heartbeat in her throat and as though she would be sick. 

“No! No, no, no, no.”

Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. Lita tried brushing away any moisture that had started building up, not wanting to ruin her eye makeup. 

Someone who wished to remain anonymous had submitted the pictures in the article.

She was called  _ promiscuous  _ by the author.

_ Empress Cetrye was caught during an intimate moment with General Hux of the First Order. _

The pictures attached were beyond invasive. They were from the week of the coronation. Armitage had Lita pinned to a wall outside the resort and her leg was pulled up around his hip as Armitage kissed her neck. There were quite a few pictures. A few of them kissing were included as well.

The door to their quarters slid open as Lita felt tears roll down her cheeks and her lip began to quiver.

“Kylo?”

“I’ve already seen them.”

“I’m sorry.”

Kylo exhaled heavily through his nose.

“Don’t be.” The edge to his voice made Lita’s jaw tense. He only used that tone when officers made him mad.  _ Never  _ towards her.

Kylo sat beside Lita on the sofa. She had started to really cry now.

“Oh, sweetheart, don’t cry.”

Lita sniffled and looked at Kylo through her lashes.

“Why don’t they like me?”

“Who, my love?”

Lita sighed, partially out of frustration.

“Everyone outside the First Order. I was well liked as an officer and when you were Supreme Leader! And now I feel like everyone else hates me.”

“They don’t hate you, my love.”

“Then why are they doing  _ this?” _ Lita pushed her datapad into his hands and Kylo looked down at the open article. He had only known about the story that had come out a few days before. The one about her choice of language.

Kylo’s jaw clenched and he went rigid.

“Who submitted these?”

“It doesn’t say. Just that they wished to remain anonymous.” They sat in a heavy silence for a few moments. “What are we going to do?”

Lita already knew the answer to her own question, though. She would stay out of the public eye for a while. She didn’t want to be ridiculed again. Not like this.

“I’ll be meeting with the council and Ellaria about this. About our next move. You don’t need to go.”

“No, I will. But I think I will step back for the time being. Until this blows over, I will not make as many appearances.”

Between the time it took them to get from their quarters to the meeting room, new photos and stories had already been released. Now, people were just reaching in an attempt to claim Lita was cheating on Kylo with Armitage.

Everyone who wanted their moment of fame was writing an opinion piece on why they thought the Empress was a morally corrupt person and some even called for Kylo to divorce her. Even the included pictures were a reach. One of Hux bowing to Lita as a sign of respect and pressing a kiss to her knuckles showed up the most.

_ A definitive timeline of Empress Cetrye and General Hux’s Affair _

It was borderline slanderous at this point. Slander of both of them. Each point in that “timeline” was just a commonly known fact with fabricated “evidence.”

_ Empress Lita Cetrye proves once more that she is not fit to rule _

That was just ridiculous.

When Kylo and Lita entered the room, everyone on the council stood as a show of respect to them. 

“Sit,” Kylo ordered. He stood for a moment longer after everyone, including Lita, took their seats. “I’m sure you all know why I’ve called this meeting by now. It seems that the Empress and General Hux are being targeted by slanderous publications.”

Lita and Armitage, to keep appearances among the council, didn’t even look at one another. Her hand held Kylo’s on top of the table and the other rested on top of her datapad.

“I have already decided that I will be stepping back from public appearances until further notice. I will stand beside Emperor Ren, but I will not speak or appear with anyone else.”

Hux glanced at Lita and Kylo in his peripheral vision and Kylo gave a nod, sensing he wished to speak.

“I will limit  _ my  _ contact with the Empress outside of professional settings. Anything we do will be in clear view of others and supervised.”

“How did we find ourselves in this situation?” Ellaria asked. “I’m aware of the stories being released but I have not seen any pictures.” The table fell silent. While the Supreme Leader looked at her datapad, everyone else waited and held their breath. Ellaria’s eyebrow raised slightly before she carefully put the datapad down. “Well, that’s enough for me to have to look at. I agree. General Hux and Empress Cetrye should not be seen alone with one another. However, these articles have reached a new stage of being ridiculous over the past few hours. Most of them are just people theorizing about a possible relationship between them or are completely fabricated. This is just an attempt at getting attention for most, if not all, of these people.”

Ellaria had a point.

“If Empress Cetrye is not able to walk with Emperor Ren, I will take on the duty of escorting her.”

“Allegiant General Pryde, I’m going to have to reject that offer.”

“No. You’ll do it,” Kylo interjected. “Turning suspicion away from you and General Hux is our priority. You show favoritism towards him and people don’t like it. You’ll walk with Pryde if you don’t walk with me.”

Lita’s eyes narrowed and she pouted slightly. It was imperceptible except to Kylo, Ellaria and Armitage. Even Phasma picked up on it. Pryde was too smug about this.

“Your majesty, I know this isn’t ideal but your relationship with the general has gone from friends, as you’ve always claimed, to something far more inappropriate.”

The meeting dragged on about their course of action. It all essentially boiled down to “Lita and Armitage shouldn’t be around one another for a while.”

At least not publicly.

Lita was rather sulky for the remainder of the evening. Except when Armitage came to see them. She was, of course, still upset, but the way he held her the moment the door closed made her feel just a little better.

“Everyone on the ship knows better than to say anything,” he assured Kylo. “We’ll still remain separated a majority of the time but I’ll continue spending time  _ here _ with the two of you.”

Lita promptly made herself comfortable in Armitage’s lap once he sat on the sofa. She pressed a kiss to his cheek as Armitage held onto her waist. 

“We could always go public about our marriage,” Kylo suggested.

“I’m not sure,” Lita said. “We’d have to come forward about it within the Order before we did that.”

“Not necessarily. What would they do if we didn’t? Nothing.”

He did have a point. They just weren’t sure if now was the best time for such an announcement. It would also create more risk for them.

“We should keep our original plan in place. After this is done, we’ll make a plan from there.”

“I agree with Armitage. With everything that happened over the past few days, there’s too much risk in coming forward about our marriage. Maybe soon, but not now.”

Kylo did agree with them on that. There was a  _ lot _ of risk involved with it. He’d consult Ellaria privately later. She always knew what to do in these situations.

“I’m going to take a bath,” Lita said, drawing Kylo out of his thoughts. “Armitage,  _ cyar’ika,  _ would you like to join me?”

He nodded, mouth too dry to form words. They had been together for so long and he  _ still  _ got nervous being intimate with Lita.

The door closed behind them and Lita turned for Armitage to help her undress.

“I’m sorry.”

“What for, love?”

“Bringing you into the public eye like this. You don’t deserve the ridicule.”

“Neither do you.”

He released the final button, pushing the straps down from Lita’s shoulders and allowing her to step out of the dress.

She began running the water before going back to Armitage to help him out of his uniform. 

Lita pressed a soft kiss to his chest after removing his undershirt.

“Would you finish setting up the bath while I wash my face, please?”

Armitage went over to the tub, shutting off the water and starting to add the oil he knew Lita used. It went nicely with her perfume.

“I’ll wash your hair for you if you’d like me to,” Lita offered, having finished taking her makeup off.

“I would like that.”

They both breathed a sigh of relief once in the water. Lita was settled with her back to Armitage’s chest as he gently kissed her neck, teeth occasionally nipping where he could. Lita moaned softly as he did. She felt that he was slightly hard against her lower back.

Armitage moaned softly when Lita pressed back against him slightly.

“Could I touch you?”

“Not yet,  _ cyare.  _ Let me wash your hair first.”

Lita turned, propping herself up on her knees on either side of his hips. “Slide down a little and get your hair wet.”

Armitage adjusted, dipping most of his head under the water before coming up again. Lita poured some shampoo into her hands, beginning to lather up Armitage’s hair, gently scratching her nails against his scalp.

He let out a soft moan, eyes slipping closed as his hands gripped Lita’s thighs. Lita tensed, trying to keep her balance and not focus on how wet she was getting after hearing him moan.

“I should be the one taking care of you, my darling.”

“I like doing this for you.”

She leaned down to kiss Armitage before going back to work on his hair. His hand trailed up her inner thigh as she did.

“Touch me, please.”

He teased her entrance, forcing a moan from Lita’s lips, before sliding one finger inside. She tried focusing more on his hair than the feeling of his hands on her. Armitage added another finger, curling them against her front wall, making Lita clench around him and bite her lip to keep back a moan.

“Slide down again, Armitage.”

He shifted once more, allowing Lita to rinse the shampoo out of his hair. Armitage sat up again, letting Lita put a conditioning treatment in his hair. He withdrew his fingers and Lita whined at the loss of them.

“Darling?”

“Yes?”

“How long does this need to stay in?”

“Fifteen minutes.”

Lita was straddling Armitage’s lap as he held her hips, allowing Lita to grind down against him. He was hard already, aching to be inside her.

“Could we…”

“Yes, of course.”

He nearly stopped breathing as Lita sank down on him. She let out a low moan before leaning in to kiss Armitage, slowly starting to ride him. 

“Oh, my darling, you feel so good. So good for me.”

“All for you,” Lita moaned, starting to quicken her pace as Armitage grabbed at her breasts.  _ “Oh!”  _ He pressed a kiss to her sternum before turning to gently bite at her breasts, tongue soothing the bites afterward.

He pulled Lita closer, grabbing her jaw to give her a kiss. When they pulled away, he held her hips firmly in place, thrusting up into her, savoring the way she squeezed around his cock and the moans that slipped out.

They were both panting for air, foreheads pressed together.

“Armitage,  _ cyare,  _ let me come. Please.”

She gave him those sweet, pleading eyes he could never resist before he reached down to rub circles around her clit, making her moan loudly.

Lita’s head tipped back and her eyes fluttered shut.

_ “Armitage, yes!” _

“Gods– fuck, darling!”

Armitage held her hips down as he came. Lita went limp against his chest.

“Mmm thank you,  _ cyare.” _

Armitage’s fingers trailed down Lita’s spine, tracing soothing patterns across her skin. She kissed his collarbone.

“Lean back again so I can rinse your hair.” Armitage moved both of them, letting Lita rinse out his hair.

The water was starting to get cold.

“We should get some sleep, my darling.”

Lita got out first, starting to dry off before pulling her dressing gown on and securing it around her waist. Armitage opened the drain, allowing the tub to empty before getting out to dry off.

He held the towel around his hips as Lita beckoned him forward with two fingers. She used a smaller towel to dry his hair before putting some type of oil in it.

“It worries me how much gel you put in,  _ cyare.” _

They left the refresher to find Kylo still on the sofa. He was starting to doze off.

“Head to bed, I’ll get him,” Armitage said, giving Lita a kiss on the cheek. She headed into the bedroom and swapped her robe for a satin nightie. It was one that Armitage had gotten for her.

“Kylo, my love, you’d be more comfortable in bed, I think.”

“Took you two a long time,” he grumbled, rubbing his eyes before getting up to follow Hux to bed.

Lita was reading her datapad when they entered the room, a fresh wave of tears welling up in her eyes.

“Kylo, why won’t they stop? It’s just the same article written by different people at this point. All they’re doing is lying!”

Kylo pried the datapad from her hands, turning it off and putting it out of Lita’s reach.

“You need to sleep. Armitage and I are going to be right here with you.”

Lita didn’t sleep well that night. Her mind kept running, going over the worst outcomes possible. When Kylo had gotten up before going to train, Lita had gotten up with him. They had some caf together, Kylo caught up on memos he had missed while Lita sat in his lap. He had read the memos until he got bored, opting instead to have sex with his wife, making him half an hour late to his training session with Ellaria and the Knights.

Ellaria had kept busy with the Knights before Kylo showed up.

“Look who  _ finally  _ made an appearance! Welcome, your majesty. Do I need to start dragging your ass here each day?”

“Actually, your highness, I was comforting my wife because of everything that’s happened to her the past week.”

Ellaria had the Knights train with one another before going over to Kylo.

“How is she?”

“She had a moment of peace last night in the bath with your brother before immediately starting to cry again before bed and then barely slept all night. She was up with me before I came here.”

Ellaria bit her lip.

“It’s terrible what’s happening to her. People are literally just lying at this point. We’ll have to bury these stories.”

Meanwhile, Lita was sitting on the couch when Armitage woke up briefly to find the bed empty.

“Lita?” She appeared in the doorway. Armitage noticed how tired she looked. “Come here, darling.”

Lita got back into bed and propped herself up beside Hux.

“Get some sleep, my love. I have to get ready for my shift.” He kissed her forehead before starting to get dressed. Lita had already drifted off by the time he went to say goodbye.

This went on for weeks. Lita barely slept, constantly finding a new story that broke that was somehow the same as the others. Until they suddenly stopped. Three weeks after the first, they finally stopped.

_ Emperor Ren and Empress Cetrye to address rumors about her alleged affair. _

She had only appeared with him twice since then.

Lita was pulled from her thoughts when Ellaria entered her quarters with Phasma following closely behind.

“We have protocol for the address already. Armitage wrote your section of it with your speech writer. You will wear white, you will enter  _ and _ exit with Kylo and I will create a block between you and Armitage. Are we understood?”

“Yes.”

“Good. How are you?”

“I’ve been better,” Lita admitted.

“Hopefully this will go away after we do this address.”

The day of their speech, Lita paced anxiously around the living room. She had gotten ready too early and was now trying to not mess up her appearance. The gown Ellaria had helped her select was beautiful. It was white with gold designs, a high neck and long sleeves. As was typical of the Empress, though, there was still a cutout at the chest and a high slit. Her hair was styled as usual in soft waves.

Lita had practiced the speech extensively. She felt ready for it but was still nervous.

When Kylo came to get her, the anxiety slipped away a little.

The area where they would speak had a small audience. The members of the court stood near the podium and they were watched by High Command and the council.

Kylo spoke first. He put down any rumors of Lita’s infidelity and confirmed their marriage was fine. He admonished the authors and publishers of those fake articles, all of which had been debunked and then introduced Lita.

“First, I would like to apologize for my lack of decorum in my last speech. My language was inappropriate and even bordered on offensive to many. I never wish to offend those I seek to help and keep safe under my husband’s rule. Secondly, I would like to address the rumors about my alleged infidelity to Emperor Ren.” Lita took a deep breath before continuing. “General Hux and I are simply friends. While we are much closer than many friends, he is nothing more than that. While those pictures that were released of us suggest otherwise, I can assure all of you, that moment was completely platonic.”

Despite being the one who wrote the damn thing, Armitage felt his anger boil deep below the surface.

“I’d like to extend my apologies not only to Emperor Ren, my husband, for my behavior, but also to General Hux. My name and image weren’t the only ones thrown into this without consent, but he was as well. General, I’m very sorry you’ve had to deal with this these past few weeks.”

He gave Lita a small nod when she glanced over her shoulder. He hadn’t written that part. That had all been Lita.

“I will keep my friendship with the General and would like the public to know that my love for my husband remains just as strong as when I married him and that the way I behave with General Hux is not indicative of an affair, but of a friendship built on mutual trust and respect. Thank you.”

Lita stepped back beside Kylo before they were given the signal that the broadcast was done.

“Well done,” he said, pulling Lita up for a kiss. “Very well said.”

“Thank you,  _ cyare.” _

Hux bowed to both of them as he approached.

“Thank you, Empress Cetrye, for your words.”

“I should be the one thanking you, General Hux. For your patience and kindness through this ordeal.”

They both knew how they would drop the formality the moment they were behind closed doors. For now, though, they would be stuck being formal in public settings. It had been Armitage’s idea to do so and to see less of one another outside of their quarters. He  _ assured  _ Lita he still loved her and Kylo. He loved them dearly, but the three of them needed safety and respite from this disaster. Only for a little longer. Armitage would miss the Empress visiting him on the bridge during shifts. Lita would miss it, too. They’d both miss the intimate moments alone in his office, but some sacrifices had to be made for the sake of the Empire’s image.

They decided to give it a standard month before going completely back to business as usual. Until then, they would lay low and hope everyone forgot about this.

Some of those authors would definitely be forgetting what they had done after Ellaria was done with them. Or at least wishing they could forget the ordeal.

“Good evening, I’m Supreme Leader Hux. May I have a moment of your time to discuss the article you wrote?” The woman let her in and the door wasn’t even closed all the way before Ellaria ignited her lightsaber. “I’m sure you’ll understand. This is just business.”


End file.
